Ron, this was pretty much self-inflicted, but it was more than a little amusing watching a relentless Joy-Ann Reid force your hand with-- What's it called again? Oh yeah-- the truth.

Joy:

Wait a minute, the IRS is not the Obama administration, Ron. The IRS is not the Obama administration.

Ron:

The IRS is not the Obama administration is a flat-out lie. The IRS commissioner is a political appointee by the president. (crosstalk)

Joy:

And who who appointed him? But who appointed him?

Ron

The president of the United States appoints the IRS commissioner.

Joy:

And who appointed?

Ron:

The president of the United states who appoints the Treasury Secretary.

Joy:

And who appointed... ?

Bashir:

Ron, Ron, Ron, I accept your assertion, but Joy is asking you very politely to answer that question: Who appointed the head of the IRS?

Joy:

Doug Shulman.

Bashir:

Doug Shulman. Who appointed... ?

Ron:

The IRS commissioner is appointed by the president of the United States.

Joy:

Who appointed him?

Bashir:

And who appointed Mr. Shulman?

Ron:

Mr. Shulman was appointed in the previous administration.

Bashir:

Thank you.

Ron:

My point to you, Martin, which, if you'll listen to my point here...

Bashir:

Absolutely.

Ron:

... is that this is somehow "Obama's above it all, this isn't the Obama administration, the IRS is independent." That is absolutely false. If President Obama had the ability to fire the acting IRS commissioner, that means that's a person in the Obama administration. This is an Obama scandal. This is an Obama scandal.

Seriously, could Lowry and Gingrich been any more dismissive and snide? Gregory is just his tooly self, and you can actually see HFJR's brain clicking to make sure he doesn't offend his "benefactors"... either that or he's stoned. Take a minute and watch this with no sound. Other than a brief, well deserved eye roll from Joy Ann, Newty and Richy seem to be competing in a Facial Olympics Condescension event.

"Up" is on too early for me regardless of who hosts it. I think it should have been co-hosted by Joy Reid and Ari Melber, myself. Kornacki is already co-hosting a show, which obviously prepared him for "Up". Maybe now Ari or Joy will end up as a regular on The Cycle now.

MSNBC has named Steve Kornacki the new host of its weekend morning show Up.

Kornacki, previously a co-host of MSNBC’s The Cycle, replaces Chris Hayes who had hosted the show since 2011. Hayes will move into MSNBC’s weekday 8 pm slot beginning April 1, while Ed Schultz begins a new weekend evening program, the company announced last week in a series of programming changes.

With all due respect to Ezra, you're hearing Paul Ryan, who is cruel and clueless, and this is LaLaLand fantasy budget proposal, being treated seriously by someone like Ezra Klein, who is treated seriously inside the Beltway. For too long... inside the Beltway has had a a fixation, an obsession, with the deficit. We now see the deficits dwindling...

The danger is that Paul Ryan, bringing this out, is gonna shift the playing field so it moves even further to the right.

Yes, Paul Ryan is proposing that Congress make the very same cuts to Medicare that he previously ranted and raved about during the 2012 elections. No hypocrite, he!

Ezra Klein:

Keep two numbers in mind... 59 and zero. 59% of Paul Ryan's cuts, 59%, so almost 6 out of 10 dollars that he cuts... come from health care mostly for the poor [Medicaid, Obamacare, some Medicare cuts affecting the working class and the poor].

The "zero" is taxes. He doesn't raise a dollar in taxes.

The experts I've spoken to don't think that is mathematically possible.

Joy Ann Reid:

He doesn't mind spending federal money, as long as it's on the rich.

Ari Melber:

Just 'cause it has numbers in it doesn't make it a budget. Right? My lottery ticket is not a budget just 'cause it's a bunch of numbers on the page.

He's not a deficit hawk, he's a health care hawk.

This was a terrific segment. Please watch it all the way through.

NOTE: Apologies for the mistake on Katrina vandenHeuvel's name, which I clearly do know. I'm, literally half asleep and let my fingers do the walking for me. It's been corrected.